Kosei bridge row: Another forum demands location unchanged

Anandpur: While protest over relocation of a proposed bridge over the Kosei river is on, another forum demanding construction of bridge on the proposed site has raised its head.

The forum where hundreds of people gathered under the chairmanship of Anandpur Bar Association chairman demanded that the bridge work should be started within 15 days at the proposed location. The forum also threatened to launch an economic blockade if their demands are not met and submitted a charter of demands to the sub-collector in this regard.

A long-running protest by villagers is on demanding relocation of the site and several rounds of negotiations with the administration in this regard have yielded no results. Notably, Belabahali villagers clashed with police on July 7 while protesting a proposed bridge over river Kosei as a part of NH-215 extension leaving scores injured and over a hundred arrested.